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what to feed instead of Senior feed

3K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  whisperbaby22 
#1 ·
My mare is a hard keeper and she is 31 years old. I have given her Senior feed with alfalfa pellets, as when she is on hay, she loses weight like crazy. I've managed to keep some weight on her with the pellets but it seems that the senior feed doesn't help her gain weight. I switched to junior feed and she has stopped losing weight but she is not gaining. what (else) can i feed her to help with weight gain?
 
#4 ·
You may just not be feeding enough. My senior horse go's through 100 lbs of senior feed per week. Plus about 60 lbs of alfalfa pellets and about a flake of hay a day....
 
#5 ·
I've got a 35 year old on a healthy scoop of Standlee Alfalfa/Timothy cubes and about 2 lbs of dry senior twice a day. The cubes can be soaked to soften if needed but my guy likes to play with them. He actually puts on a little weight in the winter and I trim him down a little in Spring. He also gets a flake of bermuda daily. He doesn't get much nutrition out of it, but horses need to graze and it makes him happy
 
#6 · (Edited)
Can I suggest you look into Pennwoods Body Builder 4000.
Here is a link to the company and what the product is about.
https://pennwoods.com/shop-equine-a...rmance-and-weight-gain-supplement-for-horses/
There is a Paso Breeder and rescue not far from me who also has some exquisite babies and show stock...a quality breeder who cares enough to help the other horses in trouble.
This place swears by this product and I've seen the proof myself in turnaround of a horses appearance when this product was added.
My neighbor put her horse who had been really sick on it and just could not get him to "bloom" and thrive....I swear in 10 days the horse had a incredible turnaround.:)
Available from many retailers, in different sizes with different price structures from each...
My neighbors horse is a picky eater and he licks the bucket over and over for any missed morsel.
Maybe something like this would help you....
:runninghorse2:....

Adding:....this product is a supplement not a feed.
You will need to feed "something" and or a senior feed and top-dress it not feed it in place of feed.

 
#8 ·
I would also do beet pulp to start with.

I'm also questioning what's going on. It's not as simple as "senior" and "junior" feeds. Senior feeds come in ALL sorts of different types. There are plenty of top quality high fat ones that should absolutely put weight on her providing you feed the appropriate amount.

If she can eat it no reason not to give her hay *in addition to the pellets* it will only help. If she needs the pellets by all means keep her on that. This does sound like a horse that would benefit from senior feed over another type.

Can you post a link to what she was on?
 
#11 ·
She was on Kelly's senior and she gets like 3-4 of those quart scoops. I have not weighed it. I am looking to buy one of those weighing machines you find at the grocery store or something similar. As there is no power where my horse is located but at the bottom of the hill there is and i don't want to be lugging up buckets of feed up and down that hill. its pretty brutal and steep. I was thinking of feeding her more and getting alfalfa hay bales and hang flakes in her stall(off the ground) so she can much on it whenever she wants. She does tend to eat the shavings if she has nothing to munch on. I did have her on another type of food with high fat and she gained weight on it, but the customer service at the place i bought it from is terrible and i found that the last bag i had was moldy at the bottom. So i stopped getting it. I will try and feed her more as well as the beet pulp. I don't want to give her too much sweet stuff because she has chronic infections in her right hind and someone told me that a lot of sweet food will give her that and she will founder.
 
#12 ·
So maybe this or this?
https://www.starmilling.com/Products/Equine Products/42530850 KELLEY GOLDEN AGE.pdf
https://www.starmilling.com/Products/Equine Products/42250850 KELLEY GOLDEN AGE NO MOL.pdf

I don't know anything about that feed never heard of it before but not hugely impressed reading the info.

More importantly it's 5.5% fat which will put weight on practically nothing. That's what I feed my 14hh easy keepers

This is a top quality much higher fat feed:
https://www.triplecrownfeed.com/products/senior/
There are plenty of other feeds you can find as well. 3-4 quarts of feed is pretty low for being fed the way you are feeding (primary source of nutrients. Senior feeds are designed to, if necessary, completely replace all other feed. Now that's not ideal so I'm glad she's getting forage as well but you can absolutely feed as much as is needed. The Triple Crown link has some more info about how they advise feeding.

I would start with that or another high fat feed, fed at the APPROPRIATE amount (not just a few quarts for your girl) then add beet pulp. She shouldn't need anything more than that if she is healthy, some older horses might but just start with that.

If you're worried about the starch/sugars in her feed I would avoid the Kelly's I linked, the TC linked should be safe for most horses (I considered feeding it to my own insulin resistant horse).

A lot of the better brands have more info on their sites like this:
https://www.triplecrownfeed.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Densitymeasurement_August2016.pdf

I personally like to think in quarts as well. But even if you don't you only need to measure ONCE, find out how much is in a quart and write it down, then you can figure from that.
 
#14 ·
I know that the large manufacturing companies of horse feed make feed scoops with weight measurement lines on them for their most popular feeds.
Purina, Triple Crown/Southern States, Seminole I have seen and I actually own a Purina scoop.
Very simple to use and I was amazed how much my "guesstimate" was off when I first started to feed by weight not volume.
I find I'm feeding less to my easy keeper and my hard keeper I am able to feed a consistent amount every day and he is now doing so much better...
The scoop I have is marked for Senior, Strategy, Omolene and one other...
There may be more than one scoop with the many feeds available.
White semi-clear scoop you can see through....

No electricity needed or difficulty measuring...scoop, pour and done.
:runninghorse2:....
 
#16 ·
Here's all I can find on that:
Kahoots EX | Kahoots Feed and Pet StoreKahoots Feed and Pet Store

"KAHOOTS EX

Since the early 1800s we’ve been calling the basics of education the Three R’s: reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. When Kahoots started studying up on equine digestion and the best diet for horses of all activity levels, we discovered the Three EX’s: EXtrusion, EXclusion and EXcellence.

Our new Premium Horse Feed is EXtruded, which means the barley, oats, rice and sorghum are cooked in a special way that makes them more digestible than uncooked grains. EXtruding the grains increases absorption for your horse by as much as 90%!

We also EXcluded a lot of things from our premium horse feed. We said ‘no’ to fillers and sweeteners like corn and molasses, and ‘yes’ to quality fiber like alfalfa, timothy and beet pulp.

We didn’t just want to EXclude unhealthy ingredients, we also wanted our Premium Horse Feed to be EXcellent. So we included flax seed containing omega-3s for coat, hoof and joint health. We didn’t stop there. We also added dried kelp for vitamins, minerals and a full range of amino acids.

We named our Premium Horse Feed “Kahoots EX” based on these building blocks of good equine nutrition, and it doesn’t take a genius to see we’ve done our homework. At $25.98 for a 40 lb bag we think you’ll agree Kahoots EX Premium Horse Feed deserves an A+!"

Another brand I know nothing about but in regards to the bold- the grains they have in there you want to actively avoid if you are worried about foundering, I actively avoid them for almost all horses it's just too rich. Yikes they have a lot! Too bad it doesn't have actual information on there. That's probably why it helped with her weight but there are different types of calories and some are healthier than others.

And I was going to say be aware that a better brand like Triple Crown will cost significantly more but if you were actually paying $26/bag you can do FAR better for less. That is the most I have heard of for pretty much any bagged feed.

It seems like you have lower quality feeds available. What do you have for stores nearby? Are you in CA? Someone may be able to make some better recommendations (I have no idea what a good local brand would be lol or where to shop at) I would look for any of the national names, I'm just not liking the ones you have shown me AT ALL honestly. Even one of the cheaper national brands would be better than that :/. I'd look for something with a better name and quality as well as higher fat (10% minimum) and preferably senior as well as "low NSC" (say <20% the lower the better)- NSC is starch and sugar content. Though I can think of several good choices that are not senior feeds.
 
#18 ·
I know you said you stopped feeding it, I'm just thinking if that worked for her it shouldn't be too hard to find something even better, but unfortunately I don't know much about the area so my only recommendation is to look for national name brands and find somewhere nearby that does/will carry them. :/
 
#19 ·
I had a Kahoots come into my area, and have not been impressed with their brands. It can be hard to find good quality feed here, except for the national brands. Good hay gets snatched up by other areas, and if you buy local hay her in So Cal, it's often dusty and dirty. Lucky for me I had a Tractor Supply come in and I can get quality feed.
 
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